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Good SEO / Bad SEO

Having worked on many web sites over the years that need to perform well with Google (and occasionally Yahoo and MSN, just to be fair), a common set of questions always seems to come up among my clients. This series of articles is an attempt to get a few of these answers down in one place.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is not my profession, but as a web designer/developer, it’s a subject I’ve developed an interest in out of both necessity and curiosity. I believe that anyone who designs, develops, or depends on web sites needs to have at least a rudimentary understanding of the subject.

Yet the subject of SEO is a bit of a mess, filled with half truths, old or bad information, and people willing to spread it for financial gain. And it’s a very enticing carrot for many clients, because high placement on Google is more valuable than beachfront property.

With that introduction, the first article in this series starts with on-site SEO, and serves as a list of best practices for web designers and developers. It’s also written for clients as a way to gauge their own web sites.

• Using Google’s First Click Free with PHP

  Content in subscription web sites is naturally limited for search engines. This type of content can’t be indexed by Google because you have to log in to view it. How do you retain the benefits of being indexed by Google and still maintain subscriber-only content?

• On-Site SEO Best Practices

  If done correctly, your site will be highly accessible to search engines and take full advantage the resulting benefits. That’s our goal with sites we produce, and below are the best practices that we try emphasize.